Let that sink in for a minute. According to Charles Johnson, defunding Planned Parenthood caused an outbreak in HIV infection in rural Indiana.

That photo was taken by Paul Sableman at 30 South 3rd Street in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana in 2011. Not exactly rural, but geography isn’t Johnson’s strong suit. This particular clinic operated with limited hours for several years, until Planned Parenthood decided to close that location. So what.

Here’s the problem.

The closing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Terre Haute had nothing to do with an outbreak of HIV in Austin, Indiana, 130 miles and 2-1/2 hours drive time away. Austin is a small rural town of about 4,300 people and it has a drug problem. It’s closer to Louisville Kentucky and Cincinnati Ohio than it is to Terra Haute Indiana.

Apparently Planned Parenthood closed the clinic on South 3rd Street on or about July 2016 (prior to the presidential election) yet they still have local clinics elsewhere. A search of zipcode 47807 on their own website turns up 10 clinics in or near Terre Haute. A search of clinics in zipcode 47102 results in another 10 clinics in or near Austin, Indiana.

The HIV outbreak happened in March 2015, affected about 190 people, and was due to needle sharing. The idiots were injecting a liquid version of Opana ER (oxymorphone) an opiate painkiller. In other words, an astounding 4% of the residents of Austin fucked themselves up by sharing HIV-infected needles. That’s not Planned Parenthood’s fault, the fault of the Religious Right or that of conservative politicians. It’s the fault of brain-dead white trash morons who did it to themselves.

BTW, Dillo Bush is the Mayor of Austin, Indiana, and he’s a Democrat, not that it matters…